Q2Week9

Dear Parents,

As we close out the final week of the semester, here are some things to keep in mind:

1) The Shakespeare Festival is taking place this Monday from 12:00-1:00 in the MPR. Come out and see your students perform Twelfth Night!

2) We have quizzes this week in History and LA. The History Quiz will be on Thursday and the LA Quiz will be on Friday. These quizzes will not be too difficult and should not stress the students out too much.

3) The Bard competition is this Thursday! If your student is preparing for it make sure they put the finishing touches on their poem!

4) Have fun! The first 2 semesters of Great Hearts can be tiring. Enjoy your Christmas break and let your students relax and have fun. There is no homework over the break, so they can get a much needed rest.

In Class

1) In History we are learning about the earliest European colonies in the Americas. Ask your students what it was like to be a colonist in the 1600s. What colonies were there? What countries started colonies in different areas? The more they discuss, the more they will understand and retain the history that they learn.

2) In Reading we will be reviewing all the parts of speech we have learned so far. We will be diagramming sentences and learning the function of Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs.

3) In Reading we will be learning the story of Hamlet and watching scenes from that play and Much Ado About Nothing.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2Week8

Dear Parents,

It is hard to believe we are coming to the end of our first semester at Archway Trivium East. Your students have been doing great, keep encouraging them, only a little bit more to go before Winter Break!

Coming up next Monday (December 14th) is the Shakespeare festival. During the day your students will give a readers theater performance of the play Twelfth Night. More details will be emailed to you soon.

Many of your students have been preparing for the Great Hearts Bard competition. I am very excited to see the work of the 4th grade Bards! They will perform their poems of the 17th of December, so make sure they are practicing their memorization.

In Class

1) In Writing and Reading we will be practice for our performance of Twelfth Night  on Monday. Have your students read through their scene with you at home and tell you about the part they will be playing! It is readers theater, so they don't have to have any lines memorized, but it would be helpful if they are familiar with their lines and cues.

2) In History we will be studying the motivations and events that led to the first explorations west by the European powers in the late Middle Ages. What were explorers like Colombus trying to find when they sailed across the Atlantic? What consequences did this have for Europe and the rest of the world? Conversations at home will help deepen your students understanding of the material.

As always, feel free to email me at bohbayashi@archwaytriviumeast.org if you have any questions or concerns!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2Week7

 Dear Parents,

Happy Thanksgiving!

Sorry for not updating the blog last week. Half weeks with half days are sometimes more rather than less hectic, and in the bustle of planning I forgot to post. It won't happen again.

A few updates going into the break:

1) Thanksgiving break is an R&R break. There will be no homework so feel free to let your students focus on food, fun, and family.

2) If your student has signed up for the Bard competition, all poems have been approved! You may help them as much as you are able to memorize and refine their poems!

3) Coming in December we will be putting on a Shakespeare festival on the 14th! It will take place in the middle of the day, and will specifically be open to grandparents, but parents are welcome as well!

In Class

1) In History we will be finishing up our African Kingdoms unit. There will be a unit test Friday the 4th covering African Geography, Egypt/Aksum/Kush, the Trans-Saharan Trade, Ghana, Mali, and Songhai. Your students will be bringing notes and study guides home so make sure they are studying!

2) In Reading we will be starting a new book, Tales of Shakespeare the book is a summary of several of Shakespeare's great plays. We will also be reading dialogue from the plays but that will be provided in class. The ISBN # for Tales of Shakespeare is 978-0-141-32168-4. The editors are Charles and Mary Lamp.

3) In Writing we will be continuing to learn how to summarize stories, drawing pictures of what happens first, next, and last and then translating those pictures into sentences.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2Week5

Dear Parents,

We are half-way through another quarter and almost to half-way mark of the year. This week deficiency notices will be going out, and there will be more of them this quarter than there were last. The main reason for this is that many students struggled with turning in homework at the beginning of the quarter. Please make sure you are checking your students agendas and homework folders, it is very important for our scholars to complete homework assignments in order to do well.

This Week

1) In History we will be studying the early African kingdom of Ghana. The history of Western Africa is rich, but not well known. Feel free to look up facts and articles of early Ghana, "The Land of Gold," and share them with your student. This will help them get a better context and understanding of what they are learning.

2) In Writing we will be working on creating key word summaries of short passages and dictating from memory.

3) In Reading  we will be discussing the question "What does it mean to be a knight?" and having a test on the varying aspects of that question on Friday. Your students will be bringing home a sheet of loose leaf paper with the ideas we have been discussing on it, read that and discuss the topics with them!

If you have any other questions, feel free to email me at bohbayashi@archwayglendale.org !

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week4

Dear Parents,

The big events to keep in mind this week are Veterans day and Read-A-Thon day. There will be no school on Wednesday in honor of our nations veterans. There will also be no homework given Tuesday. On Friday students will be allowed to dress up as their favorite literary or historical figure! A few rules given to  us by the Academy are:

1) Students must know what character they are.

2) Students should be the same gender as the character they are dressing up as.

3) While obviously they don't have to be in dress code, student costumes should still be reasonably appropriate.


This Week

1) In History we will begin our African Kingdoms unit. We will be studying the ancient kingdoms of Egypt, Nubia, and Aksum this week. Engaging your students in discussion about what they learned in history always helps solidify their understanding and retention of the material.

2) In Writing we will be learning about adverbs and reviewing adjectives. If you see sentences printed on signs or are reading with your student, ask them if they can identify the subject noun, the verb, and the adjectives and adverbs.

3) In Reading we will be finishing up King Arthur! Keep reading with your students, it really helps!

I hope everyone has a great Veterans day!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week3

Dear Parents,

Week three into quarter two, and some changes coming to the 4th grade!

After a lot of discussion the 4th grade team has decided to change our discipline policies. Instead of 3 identical infractions in a month adding up to a detention, we are changing it to 3 identical infractions in a week. This means that if a student receive 3 TLK infractions in a single week, they will receive a detention. But if they receive 2 TLK infractions in the first week of November, and another TLK in the second week of November, they will NOT be given a detention. If you're still confused, feel free to email me for more clarification, but in essence we are shortening the amount of time that infractions can add up into detentions.

On the topic of infractions, make sure you are reminding your students to get their homework done and turn it in when its due! We have many missing homework assignments so far this quarter, and we are going to start handing out UPLs for every missing assignment (they build up fast, even in one week).

Also remember to remind your scholars to log their reading minutes for the Read-A-Thon. Its through those pledges that we are building our school library, so its important!


This Week

1) In History we will be spending Monday and Tuesday learning about the Crusades, and on Wednesday and Thursday we will be studying for our first TEST of the quarter. The test will be on everything they have learned so far this quarter about the religion of Islam. Islam Quiz 1 went home today and will be useful for studying for the test. Islam Quiz 2 will go home on Monday, so look out for that too when helping your student study. Islam has been more challenging for our students than previous units, so you should especially focus on memorizing Arabic terms such as "Mosque," "Minaret," and "Caliph."

2) In Writing we will be dissecting sentences to see how removing words can totally change the meaning of a sentence. Our students will get to see how the parts of speech function to create beautiful sentences and how much thought has to go into communication.

3) In Reading we will be continuing in King Arthur and our discussions of bravery and the meaning of being a knight. Feel free to ask your students questions about what they think it means to be a "true knight." As always, reading with your students gives them the best chance to comprehend and remember the plot of the story.

Thanks for all you are doing! Your children are truly a blessing to teach.

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Q2 Week 1

Dear Parents,

We are back to full weeks of school and the second quarter is officially underway! I spoke to most of you last week, and mentioned that the curriculum is going to get a little more difficult. Expect the homework to ask more of your students and maybe take a bit longer, but let me know if it becomes too much. All homework should take about 90 minutes to complete, if it is taking significantly more than that for your student, let us know and we will work with them.


This Week

1) In History  we will continue to learn about Mohammed and the rise of Islam. Make sure your students are doing the readings and focus questions that will be going home and feel free to discuss and ask them questions about the early days of the Muslim religion. This is a topic many students are much less familiar with than Medieval and Christian history, so extra discussion at home will help a lot!

2) In Reading  we will be reading the story of Sir Gareth in King Arthur and also starting the tale of Tristram and Isolde. Read along with your students and focus on discussions of bravery in its different forms. There will be a quiz at the end of the week that will ask them to discuss the bravery of these two knights (and of Isolde) and try to define the difference between bravery and brashness.

3) In Writing we will be learning about adjectives, the great describers of the English language. A great thing to do at home is to ask your students to identify the different parts of everyday sentences. Questions like "Is that a noun or a verb?" or "Can you find the subject of this sentence?" help give students the experience to be confident in their understanding of the parts of speech.

Lets start the quarter off strong!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 9

Dear Parents,

Its hard to believe the quarter is almost over already. Both Mr. Elefson and I have greatly enjoyed the past 8 weeks teaching your students. As we close out the quarter, make sure to encourage and praise them. Making it through even one quarter of a Great Hearts curriculum is no small achievement.

They will have little homework over the break (possibly none at all, I have to confirm), so make sure to let them to rest and relax, they have earned it!


This Week

1) In History we will be studying great people of the Middle Ages. Your students will have a project where they study their own famous person. More details will come home on Monday.

2) In Reading we will continue to read King Arthur. The next tale is the story of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. It is incredibly exciting so make sure to talk to your students and get the details. As always it is always so helpful for you to have your students read to you.

3) In Writing we are going to be copying a passage from the Magna Carta. There are a lot of beautiful sentences that we will be breaking down and putting back together to give your students an understanding of how the English language can be used to express ideas with power and verve.


Your students are doing great here at school, keep encouraging them and keep up the great work you are doing at home!



Best,


Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 8

Dear Parents,

Sorry for the late post again! On Monday I left school thinking there was something I had forgotten, and Tuesday morning I finally figured out it was my blog post! I have now set up a notification to remind me to post it on Fridays.

We are reaching the end of the quarter, my how time flies! As we close out these last few weeks make sure to keep encouraging your students. Its likely they are feeling a little stressed right now, but fall break will be a good reprieve from work.

This Week

1) In History we will be having a test this Friday! The test will be on Charlemagne, the Feudal system, women in the Middle Ages, and William the Conqueror. Quizzes 4 and 5 are good resources to use to study for this test. A study guide will be created for your students to study Thursday, so look out for that!

2) In Writing we will be learning about verbs and diving into diagramming sentences. Learning to diagram is an important part of understanding the inner workings of a beautiful sentence, it can also be incredibly fun if approached with the right attitude. Encourage your students to think of it like a puzzle or riddle to be solved.

3) In Reading we will continue to read King Arthur. The story is getting interesting; King Arthur and his knights are about to begin their search for the Holy Grail! Keep reading with your students, you can even direct them to a page number where you remember a detail they need to answer their focus questions, just have them reread and find the detail on their own.


You are all doing an amazing job parenting these kids, keep up the great work!


Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 7

Dear Parents,

It's incredible that we have already gotten through 6 weeks of school. Time flies by! You may be starting to notice that its getting a little more challenging for your students. Don't be discouraged if they are struggling more than you have seen them do so before, we want them to struggle (at least a little bit) so they can learn that learning is sometimes difficult and frustrating, but always worth it!

Keeping that in mind, we also don't want to utterly defeat a student. Please let me know if you think the workload is overtaxing your student and we can meet to figure out how to help balance it.

This week:

1) In History we will be continuing to learn about the age of Feudalism. We will study the life of knight and codes of Chivalry. We will also learn about some important people who lived during the Medieval Age. Keep asking your students questions about what they are learning in history, it absolutely helps them understand and retain information when they can explain it to someone else.

2) In Reading  we will continue to read the adventures of King Arthur and his knights. This book is much more difficult to Caspian was, so I recommend you continue to read it with your student if you have time. If you explain words they don't understand and have a conversation about what is happening in the story it will greatly increase their comprehension.

3) In Writing we will be copying and deconstructing sentences. The goal is to give students more practice reading and writing cursive and also start to explore what make beautiful sentences beautiful.

Other announcements:

1) There isa Peter Piper Pizza night for the whole school this coming Monday, 15% off all pizza! Ask your students for more details, they should have a flier.

2) A few parents have approached me wanting to organize a 4th grade family day. I am going to forward them all the contact info I have. If you would prefer your contact info NOT be forwarded, please send me an email at bohbayashi@archwaytriviumeast.org.

I am also going to send out a mass email asking this question, to make sure everyone gets it. If you do not respond I am going to share your email with a select few parents who want to organize the outing.

Can't wait to see your students for another awesome week!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 6

Dear Parents,

My apologies for getting the letter up late this week, I wrote it but forgot to publish.

This week we will send out deficiency notices if students are struggling in particular subjects. A deficiency notice will be sent if your student has an overall grade of a D+ or lower in a class. If your student receives a deficiency notice, don't panic! They are common the first quarter, especially the first quarter of the first year of a new school. Students who get deficiencies half-way through the quarter still have plenty of time to bring up their grade. The deficiency will provide suggestions for what we can do to help your student improve, usually tutoring. These will be sent out by Wednesday, so keep an eye out for them.

In class this week:

1) In history we will be learning about the Franks and their leader Charlemagne, who re-united Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. If you want to research and discuss these events with your student it would help them in class!

2) In writing we will be working on identifying the difference between proper and common nouns.

3) In reading we will be continuing with King Arthur. This is a much harder book than Caspian, I strongly encourage you have your student read it to you out loud, so you can help them with comprehension. Ask them questions about the story, to make sure they know what is going on.

4) We are going to be reciting our poem this week! Make sure your student has memorized all three stanzas of "Afternoon on a Hill" by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

There will be no tests in History or Language Arts this week.

As always feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns! My email is bohbayashi@archwaytriviumeast.org.

Best,

Burk Ohbayashi

Week 5

Dear Parents,

My apologies, this is the week clubs are starting! If you haven't already signed your student up for an extra-curricular club, there are some great after school opportunities. I myself will be leading the Drama Club, where students will learn the fundamentals of theater.

Other important reminders:

1) The Prince Caspian Literature Test is pushed back from today (Friday) to this upcoming Wednesday, Sept. 9. The test will focus on the big ideas in the story, namely answering the question, "What is necessary to be a good leader?" The test will require examples from the story and the students have a study sheet to work from.

2) The History Test is scheduled for Friday, Sept. 11. It will cover the fall of Rome, the barbarians, early Christianity, and Charlemagne. Please be sure to have your students study their notes. A study guide will also be sent home this week.

Because of Labor Day, this weekend is an R&R weekend so no studying should be done. I hope they enjoy it!


In class this week:

1) In history we will be learning about the schism in the early Christian Church and about the rise of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire.

2) In literature, after the Caspian test, we will spend Thursday and Friday memorizing "Afternoon on a Hill" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Students should have the first stanza memorized on Thursday.

3) In writing we will be finishing cursive this week. Encourage your students to write their best at home as well!

Homework loads are going to be increasing in the coming weeks, keep encouraging your students! Learning is frustrating, but its worth it. If your student ever takes longer than an hour on a single assignment, please email myself and Mrs. Wycklendt so we can take action at school to help them.

Thanks for everything you are doing to support us, we really appreciate it. Enjoy your long weekend!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 4

Dear Parents,

This week clubs are starting! If you haven't already signed your student up for an extra-curricular club, there are some great after school opportunities. I myself will be leading the Drama Club, where students will learn the fundamentals of theater.

Other important reminders:

1) Curriculum night is next Thursday, 7:00-8:00. Please come to get first hand knowledge of what your students are learning and how they are learning it.

2) Picture day is next Friday on September 4th. Students must still be in dress code for picture day. Please do not send them out of uniform or with non-dress code accessories.

In class this week:

1) In history we will be exploring the dark (or not-so-dark ages) ages. Be sure to ask your students questions about the period at home! You may be surprised just how much learning and progress took place after the fall of Roman civilization.

2) We are going to be finishing up Caspian next week and there will be a test Friday. The test will not focus on a memorization of the events of the book, but rather a discussion of some of the big ideas we have drawn out by reading about the adventures of Caspian and the Pevensie children. It will be open book test and we will flag passages that are important in class. Make sure your students are studying though!

3) In writing we will finally be learning cursive! This will be a difficult process for some, the best help from home will be giving them opportunities to practice. If they write anything, ask them to write it in cursive. They will probably be asked to use cursive for the rest of their Great Hearts career, so practice will pay off.

Homework loads are going to be increasing in the coming works, keep encouraging your students! Learning is frustrating, but its worth it. If your student ever takes longer than an hour on a single assignment, please email myself and Mrs. Wycklendt so we can take action at school to help them.

Thanks for everything you are doing to support us, we really appreciate you!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 3

Dear Parents,

From now on my posts will update you on events and tests coming in the next week. I will not check my blog daily, so please communicate with me via email, not comments on the blog.

The first two weeks of school have been hectic, but also thrilling. I have been very excited to get to know your students, and have found that they are thoughtful and enthusiastic learners. We have improved our handwriting, dived into C.S. Lewis's Prince Caspian, and even discussed the meaning of the virtues. I have been constantly impressed by your students ability to rise to the challenge of Great Hearts expectations. It was a big adjustment for everyone and we have had some bumps, but I am very optimistic about the coming year.

Next week we will be studying on new topics, so be ready to have discussions with your students about:

1) The glory and fall of the Roman Empire.

• Any at home research and discussion is always helpful to students in their history studies. Feel free to ask them questions and inform them of facts you know about Rome.

2) The adventures of the Pevensie children in Narnia.

• The best way you can help your children in literature is let them read to you. This will improve their reading and comprehension skills faster than any other method of instruction.

3) And the beauty of Nouns (!?).

•  Its hard to imagine how grammar can be exciting, but this week we will be exploring the power of Names in our language. Language, and the way it is formed, contains incredible beauty and wonder when we consider it carefully. Our goal is not to just learn how our language works, but to begin to explore its depths and master its power.

There will be no tests next week, but there will typically be a short quiz in history every week and bi-weekly in grammar. This will be a very short assessment (no more than five questions) meant to help us as teachers know how well your student is mastering the curriculum. These quizzes usually will not require very much studying at home, but I wanted to inform you of them.

If you have any questions or concerns about the coming week or in general feel free to email me at bohbayashi@archwaytriviumeast.org

Have an excellent weekend!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi

Week 1 (8/11-8/14)

Dear Parents,

We made it through our first week of fourth grade!

I have been incredibly impressed by your students' desire to learn. Last week we spent a lot of time learning the procedures and expectations of our new school and I know it was difficult for many, but every fourth grader is making an effort!

This blog will typically be used to communicate what we are learning in a particular week and upcoming test dates. I will check comments on the blog weekly (updates will usually come on Fridays), so in order to contact me it would be best to email me at bohbayashi@archwaytriviumeast.org .

I) This week we spent a lot of time discussing expectations and discipline, let me outline the way discipline will work in 4th grade at ACTE. We have four expectations:

       1) Raise your hand.

       2) Follow Directions.

       3) Respect your teachers and fellow students.

       4) Sit in scholarly position.

In a situation where a student has failed to meet one of our expectations, that student will receive a behavior infraction, which will be marked on their monthly calendar inside their homework folder. The purpose of a behavior code is to remind the students of our expectations and to communicate with parents about the incident. Behavior codes will be common in the coming weeks, because we will all still be adjusting to the new expectations. I recommend that you do not regard single behavior codes as serious offenses, but rather gentle reminders to correct behavior.

The codes are:
       1) TLK- Talking out of turn. This includes shout outs or talking/whispering during inappropriate                       times.
       2) FOL- Not following directions.
       3) DIS- Disrespectful behavior.
       4) UPL- Being unprepared to learn. Usually in the case of not having their homework or                                    materials required for the daily lessons.

If a student receives three of the same behavior infractions in a single month, a detention shall be issued. The purpose of this detention will be for the student, the teacher, and the Dean of Students to discuss how we can all work together to meet the expectations of our classroom.


II) Next week we will be learning about:

     1) The fall of Rome
             -Home research and discussions with your student about Rome would help them!
     2) Manuscript letter formation
     3) Prince Caspian
             -Feel free to have your student read their assignments to you! It helps a lot.\


I am super excited to continue the year. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

Best,

Mr. Ohbayashi